In the wake of the surprise release from the New Orleans Saints of steadfast starter at right tackle Jonathan Stinchcomb, comes the signing of a special teams standout at running back in the form of Patrick Cobbs as an unrestricted free agent from the Miami Dolphins. The transaction apparently happened early enough in the day on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 that Cobbs was able to arrive at the Saints‘ training facility in Metarie in time for their 4:30 PM CST practice and fully participate.

While many Saints fans may react to point out that there are already five capable running backs on the team’s roster for training camp, it should be duly noted that Chris Ivory has yet to even pass his conditioning physical to allow him to participate in camp. To add insult to injury, so to speak, in the Saints backfield, Joique Bell suffered a sprained left knee (PCL sprain) in the preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers on Friday night and was held out of practices on Monday and Tuesday so far this week.